1964 MARUSHO Type ST Serial number: F9-0084 500... Lot 43

1964 MARUSHO Type ST Serial number: F9-0084 500 cm3 Collector's registration 4 000 / 8 000 € Marusho Motorcycle Industrial Co Ltd, founded in 1951 in Hamamatsu (Japan) by Masashi Ito, marketed its products under the Lilac brand name. The 1st Lilac was a light 150 cm3 motorcycle with shaft drive. A series of more substantial types were introduced, including a twin 350 with horizontal opposed cylinders. At the end of the 1950s, increasingly tough competition from Honda forced an overhaul of the Lilac range, with new production including a family of transversely-mounted V-twins. Despite an agreement to import Lilacs into the USA, the company was forced into bankruptcy and the factory closed in 1961. Marusho re-emerged as a motorcycle manufacturer in 1964, reorganized as Lilac Co Ltd the previous year. Clearly influenced by the contemporary BMW, the 1st new machine was a 500 cm3 twin with opposed cylinders, initially marketed as Marusho ST in the USA and Lilac in Japan and Australia. Despite quality manufacturing, Lilac production declined year after year, and the factory abandoned motorcycle production around 1967. One of only 150 surviving bikes out of a production run of 500, this rare Japanese classic sold new in California had 3 owners before passing into the hands of a 4th resident of West Virginia, who exported it to the UK. The bike joined its 5th owner in Germany in the early 1990s. Benefiting from a restored engine and retaining most of its original paintwork, this Marusho, which was the subject of an article in a German magazine (Oldtimer-Markt June 1998), has not been ridden since its acquisition by the Hockenheim Museum in 2001. The bike has been in France for 10 years, and is therefore registered as a French collector's model. We recommend that future purchasers carry out the customary restarts required by the immobilization of these machines in the collector's museum. We recommend that future purchasers carry out the customary restarts required by the immobilization of these machines in the collector's museum. 1964 MARUSHO Type ST Serial number: F9-0084 500 cm3 Collector's registration 4 000 / 8 000 € Marusho Motorcycle Industrial Co Ltd, founded in 1951 in Hamamatsu (Japan) by Masashi Ito, marketed its products under the Lilac brand name. The 1st Lilac was a light 150 cm3 motorcycle with shaft drive. A series of more substantial types were introduced, including a twin 350 with horizontally opposed cylinders. In the late 1950s, increasingly tough competition from Honda forced an overhaul of the Lilac range, with new production including a family of transversely-mounted V-twins. Despite an agreement to import Lilacs into the USA, the company was forced into bankruptcy and the factory closed in 1961. Marusho re-emerged as a motorcycle manufacturer in 1964, reorganized as Lilac Co Ltd the previous year. Clearly influenced by the contemporary BMW, the 1st new machine was a 500 cm3 twin with opposed cylinders, initially marketed as Marusho ST in the USA and Lilac in Japan and Australia. Despite quality manufacturing, Lilac production declined year after year, and the factory abandoned motorcycle production around 1967. One of only 150 surviving motorcycles out of a production run of 500, this rare Japanese classic sold new in California had 3 owners before passing into the hands of the 4th resident of West Virginia, who exported it to the UK. The bike joined its 5th owner in Germany in the early 1990s. Benefiting from a restored engine and retaining most of its original paintwork, this Marusho, which was the subject of an article in a German magazine (Oldtimer-Markt June 1998), has not been ridden since its acquisition by the Hockenheim Museum in 2001. The bike has been in France for 10 years, and is therefore registered as a French collector's model.